Bonding time, too, in Zamboanga shelter

HOLIDAY DECOR Radzma Abubakar and her child pose in front of their tent, the only one decorated with tinsel, at Don Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex in Zamboanga City. JULIE S. ALIPALA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

Despite the trauma, hardship and uncertainties caused by the three-week standoff between government soldiers and forces of the Moro National Liberation Front in September, evacuees staying in the congested shelter at Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex in Zamboanga City still look forward to a joyous Christmas.

“We are Tausug but we celebrate Christmas every year,” Radzma Abubakar, 40, said. “We have been celebrating the birth of Jesus and the birth of my mother, which falls on the same day, since I was a little girl.”

Radzma’s mother, Adelina Samonteraryo, whose father is a Christian, will turn 78 on Wednesday.

“We were raised as Muslims, but we respect my grandfather’s beliefs as a Christian,” Radzma said, adding that her mother taught all her 13 children that Christmas is not about gift-giving, but about families being together.

“I ordered a cake and my other siblings brought pancit and chicken. My mother is looking forward to eating buco (young coconut) salad,” she said.

Julie Sarapuddin and his wife Anelda have also been living in the evacuation center since October. Julie said his wife received a sack of rice as payment for sweeping the streets and cleaning drainage canals in the village of Tugbungan.

Food-for-work

Originally from the village of Mariki, the Sarapuddins are beneficiaries of the UN World Food Programme’s food-for-work project. They fondly remember past Christmases when their house was filled with holiday decor.

“Now, all we have hanging in our temporary home are clothes,” Anelda said, pointing to the clothes line outside her tent.

Like the Abubakars, the Sarapuddins are Tausugs who also celebrate Christmas, but mainly for their grandchildren who learned about the yearly Christian celebration in school. Last year, the family had spaghetti and fried chicken on their table and also gave gifts to each other.

This time, however, the couple, together with their four children will celebrate Christmas “by being strong together,” Julie said.

Family ties

“There will be no food because we can’t afford it right now. What’s important is that the family is together. We should be strong because we don’t know what lies ahead and how long we can stay here at the evacuation center,” he said.

Another evacuee, Sherinata Sariul, a member of the Samah Bangingi tribe, is paid P150 a day teaching children in the evacuation camp.

“I’m already happy with what we have here,” she said. With the money she earns, she plans to buy toys and clothes for her seven children.

Like the Sarapuddins, Sherinata said her children learned about Christmas in school.

Sherinata said all she wishes for Christmas is good health and a new home for her family.

Echoing a common sentiment among the evacuees, she said what she would like most is the opportunity to move with her family to a government housing project.

“I hope President Aquino’s promise of providing us houses will come true. For us, that would be the best Christmas gift ever,” she said.

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